Abstract

Facebook is notably the most widely known and used social network worldwide. It has been described as a valuable tool for leisure and communication between people all over the world. However, healthy and conscience Facebook use is contrasted by excessive use and lack of control, creating an addiction with severely impacts the everyday life of many users, mainly youths. If Facebook use seems to be related to the need to belong, affiliate with others and for self-presentation, the beginning of excessive Facebook use and addiction could be associated to reward and gratification mechanisms as well as some personality traits. Studies from several countries indicate different Facebook addiction prevalence rates, mainly due to the use of a wide-range of evaluation instruments and to the lack of a clear and valid definition of this construct. Further investigations are needed to establish if excessive Facebook use can be considered as a specific online addiction disorder or an Internet addiction subtype.

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*
Address correspondence to this author at Laboratory of Panic and Respiration, Institute of Psychiatry (IPUB), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ),
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; E-mail: secm80@gmail.com

Griffiths stated that an addictive behavior is characterized by the six core components of addiction: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict, and relapse [16Griffiths MD. A 'components' model of addiction within a biopsychosocial framework. J Subst Abuse 2005; 10(4): 191-7., 17Griffiths MD. Social networking addiction: Emerging themes and issues. J Addict Res Ther 2013; 4: e118.[http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2155-6105.1000e118] ]. He argued that any behavior that fulfills these six criteria can be considered as an addiction, including social networking. Furthermore, the addiction on social networks, as Facebook, has also been considered only when the excessive use damages personal, family and/or professional life [18LaRose R, Kim J, Peng W. Social Networking: Addictive, Compulsive, Problematic, or Just Another Media Habit? In: Papacharissi Z, Ed. A networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites. New York: Taylor & Francis 2010., 19LaRose R, Mastro D, Eastin MS. Understanding Internet usage: A social-cognitive approach to uses and gratifications. Soc Sci Comput Rev 2001; 19(4): 395-413.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/089443930101900401] ]. Some reports indicate that the excessive use of social networks increases isolation in real life, bringing harms to relationships [20Elphinston RA, Noller P. Time to face it! Facebook intrusion and the implications for romantic jealousy and relationship satisfaction. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw 2011; 14(11): 631-5.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2010.0318] [PMID: 21548798] ]. It is worthily highlighted that a growing complaint in mental health services from patients or even parents worried about their children’s is increased social isolation, levels of anxiety and worsening in school performance due to excessive social networks use [21American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA: APA 2013.].

FACEBOOK USE AND EXCESSIVE USE

Statistics provided by Facebook in 2015 [9Facebook. Company info: Facebook newsroom: Facebook; 2015. Available from: http://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/ 2015.] reveal that, worldwide, there are over 1.44 billion monthly active Facebook users and at least 936 million people log in every day. Among those daily users, 745 million check the site by their mobile devices. According to a recent review, there are cultural and socio-demographic differences in Facebook use: females and ethnic minorities seem to use Facebook more than males and Caucasians [10Nadkarni A, Hofmann SG. Why do people use Facebook? Pers Individ Dif 2012; 52(3): 243-9.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.11.007] [PMID: 22544987] ]. Furthermore, a cross-culture study examined differences in Facebook use among people from USA, UK, Italy, Greece and France, founding that, compared to USA users, the UK users classified “groups” as being more relevant, Italian users rated both “groups” and “games/applications” as most relevant, whereas Greek users considered “status updates” being less relevant [28Vasalou A, Joinson AN, Courvoisier D. Cultural differences, experience with social networks and the nature of “true commitment” in Facebook. Int J Hum Comput Stud 2010; 68(10): 719-28.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2010.06.002] ].

A recent study on 100 Swedish students about the use of Facebook shows that 85% of them log in Facebook at least one time every day and 70% admitted that they logged in whenever they started their computer [29Denti L, Barbopuolos I, Nilsson I, et al. Sweden's largest Facebook study. Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg 2012.]. Furthermore, the participants spent an average of 75 minutes a day on Facebook, with men spending 64 minutes and women 81 minutes every day. In this study, the average user logs in on Facebook 6.1 times/day and almost half the participants mentioned that they feel it is hard to keep up socially without Facebook. Another survey conducted on a sample of 1605 US adults aged between 18 and 54 years old, shows that 34% of girls aged between 18-34 log in to Facebook before they go to the toilet every time they wake up in the morning, 21% wake up in the middle of the night to read their texts and 39% identify themselves as Facebook addicts [30Abhijit N. Facebook Addiction. USA: Buzzle; 2012 Available from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facebook-addiction.html 2012.]. Furthermore, Hofmann and colleagues [31Hofmann W, Vohs KD, Baumeister RF. What people desire, feel conflicted about, and try to resist in everyday life. Psychol Sci 2012; 23(6): 582-8.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797612437426] [PMID: 22547657] ], in a survey on 205 German Facebook and Twitter users aged between 18 and 85, showed that the desire for being daily on social networks reported by participants is superior to the desires for sleep and rest. They concluded that social networks addiction is more harmful than smoking and drug-addiction because social media are widely available and cheaper.

Regarding Internet addiction, Griffiths [23Griffiths MD, Kuss DJ, Demetrovics Z. Social networking addiction: An overview of preliminary findings. In: Rosenberg KP, Feder C, Eds. Behavioral addictions: Criteria, evidence, and treatment. London: Academic Press 2014; pp. 119-41.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-407724-9.00006-9] ] argued that it is not well established if people become addicted to the platform or to the contents of the internet. Users addicted to the internet cannot give up several aspects of online use. Thereby, the author postulates three subtypes of internet addicts, on the basis of the “object” of the addiction: on-line games, sex, and e-mail or text messages. Social networks are an online activity in which texting or e-mailing are predominant, in spite of being used for game playing and even sex-related purposes.

According to the model proposed by Nadkami and Hofman [10Nadkarni A, Hofmann SG. Why do people use Facebook? Pers Individ Dif 2012; 52(3): 243-9.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.11.007] [PMID: 22544987] ], Facebook use is mainly driven by two basic social needs: (1) sense of belonging to, and (2) self-presentation. The “need to belong” arises from the basic drive to affiliate with others and obtain social acceptance, whereas the need for self-presentation is steadily required for the process of impression management. These motivational drives often co-exist and could explain the Facebook use. Several demographic and cultural factors are associated with the need to belong, whereas personality traits such as neuroticism, narcissism, shyness, self-esteem and self-worth are associated with the need for self-presentation.

Tamir and Michell [38Tamir DI, Mitchell JP. Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2012; 109(21): 8038-43.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1202129109] [PMID: 22566617] ] described an increased neural activation underling the cognitive mechanisms associated with gratification upon talking about oneself. Using fMRI, the authors explored how brain activity while people talked about themselves was related to a pleasant experience, in comparison to other natural rewards such as sex or food. Authors argued that babies aged 9 months try to catch other's attention to the parts of the environment that they view as the most important, which could be considered the first form of self-exposure; adults, on the other hand, want to give forward information to others about themselves. Thus, human beings have an intrinsic drive for self-exposure, and this behavioral pattern is forced in social networks because of the brain's reward system: "People dedicate close to 40% of their time talking about themselves. This number reaches 80% in social networks with the possibility of feedback and immediate rewards" [38Tamir DI, Mitchell JP. Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2012; 109(21): 8038-43.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1202129109] [PMID: 22566617] ].

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

Internet addiction and excessive social networks use are already important issues for treatment and research. Even if Facebook is the number one tool to promote entertainment, maintaining relationships and occupying time [40Chen GM. Tweet this: A uses and gratifications perspective on how active Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with others. Comput Human Behav 2011; 27(2): 755-62.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.10.023] ], some people could develop addictive behavior based on the sensation to feel better or more self-assured (increased level of excitement or escape) upon navigating social networks [54Giannakos MN, Chorianopoulos K, Gioyopoulos K, Vlamos P. Using Facebook out of habit. Behav Inf Technol 2013; 32(6): 594-602.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2012.659218] ]. Facebook addiction could be related to brain reward and gratification mechanisms and it seems more prevalent in persons with some personality traits and mood states, such as anxiety, depression, narcissism, low self-esteem, seeking for an increased mood elevation.

Despite being a current topic, Internet addiction and excessive social networks use could be unnoticed and underestimated. However, specialized clinics and programs already target these kinds of addictions [55Vishwanath A. Habitual facebook use and its impact on getting deceived on social media. J Comput Mediat Commun 2015; 20(1): 83-98.[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12100] ] although there is still a need for further research to determine if Facebook excessive use can be considered as a specific online addiction disorder or an Internet addiction subtype.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors confirm that this article content has no conflict of interest.

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